Keep You Alive
by toodark
Summary: Gracie meets a mysterious boy who's past is tied in with t her's and four other teens in Shibuya. With Chaos brewing in the UG, quiet literally, they must all go through the Reaper's Game: seeking what is lost and saving the RG. Spoilers, after wewy
1. Ch 1: Not in Fate

**Author's note**: SPOILERS, SPOILERS, and more SPOILERS!!! :) Thanks to my Jetzelda as usual. And yes...she's MINE!!! *Glomps her*  
Music listening to: 30 Seconds to Mars- the Kill, Oblivion. Magical Melody. Thousand Foot Krutch- I Climb.  
Mood: Wanting to eat more pizza and needing coke. If that's a mood...lol

* * *

"One order of fries, coming up!" A preppy girl with blond hair in pigtails said happily. She wore the standard uniform that all Sunshine employees wore. Gracie stood at the counter, arms crossed, and her chunky headphones blaring. "That'll be 320 yen! Thank you for your purchase! Please come back again soon!" The blond said with a smile handing Gracie her French fries as Gracie put the pile of yen on the orange counter. Gracie walked away without a word. The blond glared at the girl who had short choppy black hair with white highlights in them. "Rude..." she muttered under her breath.  
"I heard that..." Gracie said, still walking away. Gracie sat at a small table for two in the back of the shop. She looked at her iPod and started to fiddle through all of her songs.

"Hello" A male said. Gracie looked up, her black bangs falling into her green eyes. A teen her age stood by the table she sat at. He had shoulder length ash hair and violet eyes. He wore a grey oxford shirt, with the first button showing part of his chest, and black jeans. A smirk was plastered on his face. "May I sit down?" His voice brought Gracie out of what she was thinking about.

"Umm...sure." Gracie said quietly. He sat across from her in a smooth, fluid movement. One that seemed like only a god could do it.

"My name is Yoshiya Kiryu." He stuck a pale, seemingly luminescent hand out. Gracie figured that he wanted to respond but all she did was grab a hot, crispy French fry and pop it into her mouth. He pulled his hand back. "But mother and father call me Joshua." This was getting weird. Who actually told somebody that right after they met them? "You can too since we'll be seeing each other quiet often." Okay... more than just weird: creepy.

Gracie stood up quickly and grabbed her fries and iPod." I'm leaving she said abruptly. She hooked her iPod into the headphones and "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars started playing.  
"I'm sorry, Gracie" Joshua and stood up. Gracie turned to face him. She was ready to get some answers from this creep. How did he know her name?

_The next moment seemed as if in slow motion to her._

Joshua pulled out a gun and pointed it at words "I'm sorry, Gracie" seemed to echo and mix with the lyrics of the song. _"~come break me down~" _  
"I have to kill you."  
_"~Bury me, bury me~"_  
-BANG!!-  
_"~ I am finished with you. Look in my eyes~" _  
The bullet shot through the air and pierced through Gracie's heart. "It's my entire fault... My unfinished business."  
_"~you're killing me, killing me~" _

Gracie's limp, lifeless body hit the ground. The blond cashier screamed in horror and in fear for her safety. Customers ran out of the fast food restaurant. Joshua took out a small device that looked like a garage door remote and pushed a button.

Everything froze in time. The fleeing customers, the screaming clerk, the blood rushing from Gracie's chest. Joshua took out a purple phone and a few pins from his pocket and put them in Gracie's left pocket. He picked up her dead body and walked out of Sunshine. He stared at a group of teens standing near by at the statue of Hachiko. One had spiky, orange hair, blue eyes and headphones like Gracie's around his neck. Next to him was a girl with black hair that went to her chin and framed her face nicely. She had black glasses and dark brown eyes. She was holding a stuff pig-cat thing and was frozen in motion laughing. Next to her was a boy with a black beanie with a skull on it and pieces of blond hair that stuck out from under it. He was holding the hand of a younger girl in a pink shirt with a skull heart on it and a bell necklace.  
He knew them all.

Neku Sakuraba

Shiki Misaki

Daisukenojo Bito, or Beat

And Rhyme Bito.

A year before Joshua had gotten them involved in the Reaper's Game. He had done terrible things to these four teens... but in the end everything was fixed, except for their new appreciation for life.

**And he was about to do it all over again.**

He carried Gracie to the Scramble Crossing, the place where all Players started the Reaper's Game. He placed her body on the ground and took a black pin with a skull on it out and dropped it on her body. He took a moment before he turned to leave to look at the dead girl. She had black nails, black cropped hair that was spiked into spikes, and pale skin. She wore a black halter shirt, which had a newly acquired hole in it, and black cargo pants.

Joshua's phone started playing the most annoying song he had ever heard: "Once I was the King of Spain." He was going to kill Hanekoma when he saw him next. He sighed and answered the phone. "Yes, Hanekoma?" He asked impatiently, he really didn't have time for more problems.

"Did you hear the new ring tone?"

"Yes. And if I could fire you, I would."

"Mean old Joshua, same as ever. Anyways, Sho is about twenty miles from Shibuya. You better-"

"I know, I know." Joshua said boredly.

"Just be careful." Hanekoma hung up on him.

Joshua took out the small device again. It had three buttons on it: RG, UG and BOTH. Joshua hit the RG button and the city came back to life. Gracie's body disappeared from where it was before. Joshua walked to the group of kids he had watched before.

"Neku, Shiki, Rhyme, Daisukenojo-"

"BWAAAAAAH!!!!!!" Beat freaked out waving his arms around "Don't call me that!!!!" Rhyme smiled politely.

"Calm down, Beat." She said calmly.

Shiki and Neku turned to look at Joshua. "You haven't changed a bit." Neku said, his arms crossed against his chest.

"The UG is in trouble." Joshua said, getting to the point.

"Well we're not helping" Neku said flatly.

"Why not, Partner?" Joshua said mockingly. Neku glared at Joshua in the I-hate-you-so-much-I'll-cut-off-your-head-with-a-toothbrush- kind of way.

"I forgot how much I wanted to choke you..."

"What seems to be the problem?" Shiki asked.

"Bwaah!! Shiki!! Don't help dis punk!!" Beat yelled.

"But if we don't, who will? And sometimes people just need a good listener, right Rhyme?"

"Uh-huh!" The two girls smiled at Joshua as Beat and Neku glared with all their might.

"Sho is coming back."

"Whaaat?! But you killed him!" Shiki yelled. "Apparently not..." Neku mumbled.

"And he has friends. After we got rid of all the Taboo noise we thought they were gone for good. But Sho has created a new form of noise called Chaos noise. They attack everyone and anything. If they can get into the RG-"

"Everyone will die..." Rhyme finished sadly. "And you think we can help?"

"Yes. If we can stop him then both the UG and RG will be safe again."

"So, let me get this straight...you want us, all previous players, to go back into the UG to help you the reason we all died?...We'll do it." Neku said, arms folded across his chest.

"Whaaattttt?!?!" Shiki yelled.

"It Shibuya's in trouble, we have to help. Just like you said before Shiki."

"But- How do you purpose we get back into the UG, Neku?"

"The only way we can: die."

"Whaaat?!"

"BWAHHHHHH!!! Phones, we can't just kill ourselves!!!"

"You're right. He can." Neku pointed out.

"Well, I suppose..." Joshua said taking his gun out and cocking it. "Who's first?"

"Why the hell do you have a gun on you?!?!" Neku yelled.

"A previous engagement. Now, as I said before: Who's first?" Joshua smirked.


	2. Ch 2: Shopping Bytes

**Author's note**: Hello :) sorry i take so long... :( Thanks Jetzelda, for being there and being square ;) ommg, this took me forever to type XP Thanks to those who read this and to Diet Coke!

* * *

A small girl skipped across the UG. She had long pink hair in two wavy pony tails that went to her waist. She had cold black eyes and was wearing a white lacy dress that went to her knees. Her eyes danced across the Scramble Crossing till she saw a girl lying in the center of the street. The girl, who looked about 9, skipped to Gracie's body. Suddenly, her pink phone rang and she answered it.  
"Hello~?" Her melodious voice asked.

"Jane. Have you located Gracie?"

"Yes sir~"

"And you know what to do with the memory?" He asked sternly

"Yes Sanae~" Jane said sing-songy.

"Good" He hung up quickly so Jane could get to her job. Jane put her phone away and her arm became ghostlike and slipped into Gracie's head taking a small silver sphere.  
**"Mission Complete~"**

**/\/\1st day/\/\**

Neku sighed. Stupid Joshua. He hated him.. Maybe he could find a way to kill Joshua while waiting for one of his friends to show up. Erase him? Too simple.. Decapitation? hm.. Push him off a cliff? No cliffs in Shibuya... Puncture his lungs and watch him drown in his blood? Gruesome, but perfect.  
Where were they? Maybe they weren't coming.... Maybe they were his entry fee. Damn it! Neku punched the base of the statue behind him. The statue of Hachiko.

"Neku!" A small girlish voice yelled. Neku looked around and saw Rhyme running over to him.

"Rhyme! Where's Be-" Neku stopped as he saw Wolf Noise following her.

"Make a pact with me!" She yelled, out of breath and she sounded scared.

"I accept!!" A blinding light surrounded them and the Wolf Noise disappeared. Both of their phones beeped at the same time.

**_Reach 104. You have 30 minutes. Fail, and face erasure._**

**_~ THE REAPERS_**

The message was the standard one for the first day. A way to sort out the good Players from the bad ones. A stabbing pain went through their left hands and into their left arms. They didn't need to look at their hands to see the time ticking away.  
"Can't they think of something more original?" Neku said, grumbling.

"Neku? Have you seen my brother? I can't find him or Shiki... Maybe they were our entry..." She said sadly.

"Let's look for them. They must be somewhere" Neku said, trying to cheer the young girl up.

"Alright" Rhyme smiled sweetly.

* * *

Gracie's eyes flickered open. Why was she in the middle of the street? Why were people stepping over her like she wasn't there? Gracie stood up and looked at the pin in her hand. It was black with a white skull. She flipped it into the air and the moment her hand caught it noise flooded her head. She dropped the pin like it had burned her hand and stumbled backwards. What was that? People's...thoughts? She bent down, picked up the pin and stuffed it into her pocket.  
Gracie looked around. The Scramble Crossing. Why was she here? Last she remembered she was in Sunshine and- He **shot** her!!!

"That bastard!" She swore loudly. Her favorite shirt was ruined!!!! Suddenly blue frogs surrounded her. "What the-?" Her phone beeped and Gracie looked at it.

**_Reach 104. You have 30 minutes. Fail, and face erasure._**

**_~ THE REAPERS_**

Pain shot through her arm. "Ouch!" Gracie looked at her hand and the time was counting down from 30 minutes. One of the frogs scratched her leg. "Crap!" She yelled and started to run away. Once she reached the statue of Hachiko she stopped to catch her breath but more frogs were following her now.

"Form a pact with me. Say you accept and they will stop." A cocky voice said.

"I-i accept!" She screamed as the Noise escalated around her. A light surrounded her and all of the frogs dissapeared. Gracie fell to the ground, finally catching her breath. Two black shoes came into her sight.

"Thank-" She looked up and saw Joshua standing there. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-you!!!" She yelled and pointed at him.

"Hello, partner." He said, a grin plastered on his face. Gracie stood up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She started dragging him to 104.

"You're buying me a new shirt!!" Joshua folded his arms.

"And _why_ would I do that?" He asked. Gracie stopped and turned to him.

"A: I need a new shirt. B: You shot me. C: -"

"Your bra is showing." He finished smugly. Her face turned red and she covered it up.

"Take your pick!" She spat.

"I think I'll take the 'shot' one with a side of fries"

"Through the heart!!" She screamed angrily.

"And a chocolate shake while you're at it. Besides it seemed....romantic" He grinned.

"Ahhh!" She yelled, not knowing what to say "You're still buying me a shirt!" She glared at him. The hole in her shirt was two inches across, stretched out from moving and dragging Joshua.

"Don't you want to know why you were in the middle of the street? Why I shot you?" Joshua asked, following Gracie to 104.

"Not till I get a new shirt" She said stubbornly.

"How shallow of you.." he muttered

"Says the girly guy who doesn't have his bra showing!"

"Ouch. My heart!" He said dramatically.

"At least yours didn't have a bullet go through yours!" She grumbled.

"Touche" He said grinning. As soon as they near 104 their timers disappeared. Gracie shrugged, clearly not interested. She stopped in front of the tall building.

"Hey, can they see us in there?" She asked

"See that?" Joshua pointed to a red symbol painted on the side of the building. "That means yes" Gracie started to walk in but Joshua grabbed her arm.

"What now?" She groaned and turned to him. The shirt he was wearing was in his other hand as he stood there with his black undershirt , which showed off his body.. He pulled his shirt over Gracie's arms for her.  
"W-what are you doing?" She stuttered, blushing lightly as he started buttoning it.

"Do you want guys to see your bra?" Joshua said, finishing buttoning the shirt, which Gracie's small body seemed to drown in.

"I..um.." She said, trying to think, but a loud voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Joshua, you stuck up prissy little prick!" A voice yelled.

"Oh, dear. Seems like I've been found.." He said smugly.

"Shouldn't you be worried?" Gracie asked. Joshua grabbed her arm and started pulling her into 104.

"Now, how about that shirt?" He said, completely ignoring her question.

"Wait.. I thought you didn't want to buy me a shirt.."

"I thought you wanted one." Joshua said, dragging Gracie into the elevator.

"Good point" She said as the bell rang to let them out. The store was Lapin Angelique, her absolute favorite shop. Quickly, Gracie started piling cute tops into her arms. Joshua crossed his arms and frowned.

"I said I would buy you a shirt. Not the entire store."

"You obviously have never been shopping with a girl before." Gracie responded, like it was common knowledge. "We are required to try on every cute top we find until we find one that is the absolute cutest or fits to our liking."

"Females are truley a dizzying part of the species." Joshua said, eyeing the towering pile.

"Why do you think boys don't like going shopping with their girlfriends?" Gracie said, stepping into a changing room. She looked at Joshua's shirt in the mirror. For some reason she didn't want to take it off... She slipped her arms into the shirt and slipped her ruined shirt off.. Joshua's shirt was warm and light. She started to pull it over her head... till it got caught on her hair. She tugged a few times and determined that the button was not going to let go. Gracie kicked the wall in frustration.

"Graceful Grace? You alright in there?" Joshua asked.

"Sure, Juliet" Gracie said mockingly. Joshua looked both ways and went through the opening under the door into her dressing room.

"Ah!" Gracie yelled blushing. She was covering her bra with her arms and his shirt was stuck on her hair and covering half of her face.

"Ah. Lookie what I found. A blushing Romeo." He said smugly. Gracie couldn't turn in the dressing room because it was so small. Joshua's body was close to hers. It made her slightly uncomfortable. "Now, let me-"

"No!!" She yelled and backed into the mirror right behind her.

"And why not?" He asked, stepping forward and crossing his arms. "It's not like you can do it with your arms like that."

Gracie's face turned redder. "Alright" she whispered softly. She had never been so close to a guy like this before. Joshua took a step closer. Their bodies almost touching. He tried to undo her hair from the button but Gracie's arms were in the way. The frustrated look on Joshua's face told her so. "N-no way. I'm not moving my arms!" She yelled stubbornly.

"Romeo, I won't look. Scout's honor."

"Were you even a scout?!" She yelled.

"No...but.. I promise, okay?" He said the last part softly, hands up to show he didn't have his fingers crossed. Gracie put her arms down relunticly and stared at the floor. Joshua quickly undid the knot and took the shirt into his arms. "Done" He said.

"Thank you, Juliet.." She said putting her arms back over her chest.

"No prob, Romeo." He turned to the door, about to climb back under it.

"Wait!" She said, holding her hand out to stop him. Joshua turned to her "Yes?"

"w-will...you help me pick a shirt" She asked softly. A smug smile graced his face.

"As you wish"

After a half an hour, 20 shirts, 11 smacks to the back of the head (all aimed at Joshua) and 2 more times her hair got caught, Gracie decided on a black tight fitting tee that had a white skull on it. The skull had a heart shaped hole in it with neon blue 'blood' coming out of it. The shirt said: "I need you like a bullet to the head". As they got out of 104 everything turned black.

* * *

"Alright. Everyone sit down and shut up. My name's Sanae Hanekoma. And for you who don't know: I'm your Game Master this time round so shut up and sit back, it's gonna be a bumpy Reaper's game." Mr. H said. He had black hair that spiked up, black glasses and a 5 o'clock shadow. He wore a wrinkled white oxford, black vest and black slacks. Mr. H stood at the head of a long table. Reapers lined the table on either side. All except for five people were wearing the standard red hoodie, black hat under it and jeans. The five out of dress code were: a girl about 19 with short bubble gum pinnk hair, black eyes and a skimpy outfit consisting of a black trimmed blue shirt that showed off her belly button and a black leg-reveling skirt. Next was a guy the same age wearing a black sleeveless hoddie with a white rib cage painted on it, jeans and a lollypop in his mouth. He had the same eyes and orange hair. These two were Yashiro and Kariya. They were Reapers who had been around since before Neku's first round of the Reaper's Game. Jane was sitting near Mr. H, a soft grin on her face and was playing with a stuffed bunny.

The last two were brand-spaking-new Reapers. The first was about 22 and had red ringlets past her sholders. She had blue eyes and was dressed in a short orange and yellow tie dye dress that went a couple inches above her knees. On all the hems fuzzy purple stuff bordered it. The dress hung low on her sholders. The second was a guy about 18 and cocky as hell. He had black spikey hair with red coloring on the spikes making it look like blood spilling down. He had sadistic green eyes. The teen was wearing a tight fitting black shirt with "If you can't beat them, don't try" on it and black pants.

"Alright. I don't give a crap about any of you to-" Mr. H began.

"Sanae~?" Jane asked, tugging on his sleeve "Do you care about me~?"

"Of course, Jane" He said, smiling nicely. "As I was saying, I don't care about you people so I'm gonna put this painfully blunt. If you, any of you, screw this up I'll erase you before you can say my name-"

"Which one? Mr. H or Sanae Hanekoma?" The cocky brat asked.

"The latter. Now, Sho Minamimoto is back. This, obviously, is not a good thing. We need to erase him and the new Chaos noise before they destroy the UG and the RG."  
While Mr. H was talking, Jane was holding the silver sphere that held Gracie's memories. "Got it?" Mr. H asked. Nods and mutters of approval could be heard. One Reaper got up and stood near Jane. He snatched the sphere and smashed it into the wall behind him.

"Too Zetta Slow!" He yelled and pulled his hood down to revel Sho. He laughed "You hectopascals will never get me now!" And with that he disappeared.

"Aww crap. This is not good" Mr. H moaned.

* * *

**Author's ending note**: hehe, like it? Yes, Gracie's hair can actually get caught like that. I should know because mine is that lenght and it did a couple of days ago. :P And green eyes are always sadistic *cough* Axel *cough*

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	3. Secret Report 1

Author's Note: So a person named James Firebrand wrote a review on the last chapter and they had ALOT of good info and things that might not make sense just yet. The following are clips of their comment and in this chapter I'll try to address them all :

"Neku pretty much capitalized and for another thing, if Joshua wanted to bring Gracie, Neku and the rest of the gang, back into th UG, he wouldn't have needed to kill them or force them to play the game. All he would need to do is simply elevate their vibe, easy enough for the God of Shibuya.  
Also, even as powerful as Sho is, I repeat: Joshua is the Composer. Even with those new Noise, Joshua could pretty much just obliterate them AND Minamimoto with a wave of his hand.  
And in closing, you're writing of Hanekoma seemed,OOC, if nothing else. He seemed more than a little overly angry and cold. In the game, Hanekoma was always very laid back and rarely, if ever lost his cool.  
I'm looking forward to what else you have planned!d the whole 'music obsessed' thing in the game. Having your character be overly interested in music after Neku, just seems kinda redundant...  
Also, Joshua's hair and eyes are Ash and Violet, respectively."

So here we go: Neku seems perfect but just for now. It's Joshua, he likes killing people :) can you blame him? The way the Chaos Noise are is a big part about why Joshua can't just obliterate them. Hanekome does seem OOC but I'll try to explain it in the chapter. The redundincey with Neku and Gracie is ment to be that way, it's gonna work out soon. And Joshua's eyes and hair: I simply did not know and I'm going to edit it :)

Thank you for all of the reviews and this chapter will be shorter but explain more.

* * *

**_Secret Report 1_**

Chaos Noise. A type of Noise that can destroy the UG and the RG...

Even the Composer is afraid of the power they posses. And that, in itself, is a scary thought.

When I asked him what they were he put it simply: Taboo Noise plus blood from their creator plus a new material called Shadow Matter. These things made the Chaos Noise. The blood from the creator of the Noise makes them only listen to them. But the blood also means that if you kill the creator, you kill all the Noise.

The Composer says that a person with a strong enough will and heart can possibly destroy them. He decided to bring them back: Neku, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme. He knows if anyone can beat the Noise, it would be one of them. But he added another Player at my request.

Her name is Gracie. The Composer also has the feeling that she'll be the one to get rid of the Chaos Noise, but I know for a fact that if anyone can, it's Gracie.

We've only had two encounters with these Chaos Noise. They are vicious noise that can look like humans. This is one of our problems with destroying them. Only the Composer can tell which humans are actually Chaos Noise. Their attacks are powerful and the second time we encountered them, they killed a Reaper with one hit. The Composer predicts if he was hit at least twelve time, he too will be Erased. Gracie must be the key to keep Shibuya alive and to keep you alive, Composer.

As for her entry fee... Jane took her memories of someone precious to her, her older brother. Sho broke the sphere containing her memories yesterday. Slowly, but surely she will remember. This might jeopardize the entire plan.

I have been too uptight lately. All of these things are happening at once.. I'm thinking of closing Wildkat till things settle down. At any given time I can die... the stress is really getting to me. The Composer is bring Gracie to Wildkat to explain everything to her.

There is something that factors into all of this that I have yet to mention. Only Jane and I know this fact. Gracie's brother, he's Sho Minamimoto. This is why she might be able to defeat the Chaos Noise. His blood is her blood... Just as only Gracie can keep the Composer alive, he is the only one who can keep her alive. They need each other to survive. And if they don't realize this, both will be Erased for good. Gracie has untapped powers, but still has to learn how to control and contain them.

The fact still remains that Sho doesn't even know Gracie is alive. When he was little, Gracie got hit by a car. Sho was told that his sister was dead and ran away from home. The truth of the matter was that Gracie escaped with only a few broken bones. But when the Composer and Gracie find out about this.. I wonder what she'll do. Save Shibuya or be with her brother...

-Mr. H


End file.
